Tarnished Souls
Crymsyn Hart
Published by Smashwords for Purple Sword Publications, LLC
TARNISHED SOULS, BOOK TWO
Copyright © 2009 CRYMSYN HART.
ISBN 978-1-936165-27-8
Cover Art Designed By Anastasia Rabiyah
Edited By Traci Markou
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and events are fictitious in every regard. Any similarities to actual events and persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if any of these terms are used.
CHAPTER ONE
“You said you loved me,” I announced to the old, abandoned church, enjoying the silence. I waited for an answer. Nothing whispered back to me.
They told me I had a choice. Love an angel and ascend from the mortal coil. Become a demon’s perfect mate and lose my soul to the fiery depths. Either way I would’ve lost one of them in the end. How could I choose between the beings my soul had been cleaved in half for? It was an impossible decision, but before I could utter the words to seal my fate, another answer was presented to me. An archangel, of all beings, told me I could have both of the men I desired.
Of course there was a price. There always was when it came to these things.
I had to become something else.
Staring up at the cross, I wondered when the tree would pry it free from the rusted bolts. In the past six months since making my decision, life had turned upside down. The two beings I loved had not resurfaced, leaving me to flounder in my new existence. I was promised angelic and demonic council because it was my rite, told to me by Samuel, the Archangel, who imparted me with a third option. However, I had heard neither angelic trumpets nor demonic intonations. I was alone in the battle for my sanity. At least in this serene place, none of the dark shadows following me could penetrate my mind.
When I had made my choice, I dropped my humanity and transformed into a hybrid. Now I walk between the shadows, where moonlight bends and sunlight breaks; part of me was a baby angel and a newborn demon. Devilish horns budded from my forehead when I grew mad. Whenever something struck me as beautiful, my wings burst into this dimension. It drove me into seclusion. For the first three months, I learned to control my emotions. A laugh bubbled from my lips when I thought of the accident which changed my life.
Two and a half years before, my sister had been alive and I was gearing to be the next Gothic, peppy cheerleading captain of my high school squad. My sister had graduated, and we were on our way to a party. I had been accepted into the team because I had won State the year before, cementing my place among the preppy, upbeat, fake blondes. The day of the party, we were traveling up to the lake when we had hit something in the middle of the street. It totaled the car, skidding it off the road.
What we hit were the two beings I had fallen in love with and now pined for. They were invisible to the human eye, but when they realized they had caused the accident, Tristan, my angel, dragged my sister from the crash. He had wanted to rescue me too, but I was already dead. Even that didn’t matter to the celestial beings. Daniel, the demon who loved me, took my prone form, pulling it from the flaming car. The angel had desired to help me, but in order to, he had to make a deal with the devil. Woo me like a human male would and whoever I chose would win my soul. Neither of them realized what would happen. They changed the very nature of my destiny, and altered their own.
Together they touched me with their powers, branding me with an ankh tattoo perched on the side of my eye. Upon waking from the accident, I had a broken arm and leg, along with new gifts to see and speak with the dead. I learned to control my developing powers. It was only recently I discovered how to walk among the Gray Zone, between this world and the next, treading were angels and demons were invisible to the human eye, but vulnerable to so much more. It was then I started hearing the murmurs among the darkness, clinging to the shadows.
I shivered when I thought about the realm. This was the place angels walked when they nudged mortals on their paths in life. It was the world where demons whispered their naughty suggestions in the ears of unsuspecting humans. It chilled my bones and burned my flesh almost as if it rejected me from the start.
White, blinding light beamed up from the cross, shooting straight into heaven, a beacon for the divine. I did not feel any tug toward it. At this very moment, my thoughts were on the ones who abandoned me.
Now, when I need you most, you are silent. I bowed my head, letting it rest on the hand-carved pew in front of me, feeling the smoothness of the wood. The craftsman who originally made it had done so with love and care. This love was also reflected in the assembly of this church. Wetness lined my cheeks, but I didn’t bother to wipe the tears away.
“If you can still cry, then you still have a soul.”
When I looked up, there was no one in the church save the robin pecking at the floor, looking for stray beetles. I watched it for a moment, but determined it truly was a robin. “Who’s there?”
Deep, rich laughter echoed throughout the tabernacle. A shiver rolled up my spine and quivered my wings. There was power in the laugh and it was not of the Divine. I cleared my thoughts and opened my senses. Inside my mind, I saw everything clearly. There was nothing save a black blur running throughout the church. Air caressed my cheek, and I wondered who was with me. The energy was not familiar. It was not Daniel. The vibration of the being’s energy was higher than my fallen angel. Because it was higher I knew this being was above Daniel in the demonic circle, meaning he was closer to Lucifer because the levels of hell were reflections of heaven. The atmosphere was crippling, and the stench of sulfur so overpowering I pressed my nose into the crook of my arm to keep it out.
A surge of power knocked against my own and made me come back to myself. When I did, I opened my eyes to see a man perched on the bench next to me, easily balancing on the balls of his feet. He wore black leather pants which clung to every wicked curve, and a dark green T-shirt accentuated the flatness of his chest and caramel skin. His eyes were deep red. Jet black hair was pulled back into a small pony tail with a close-clipped beard on his strong jaw line and no mustache. I swallowed to keep my mouth from watering. This man was sin itself. The only thing marring his perfection were the small onyx horns protruding from his forehead. Looking behind him, I saw tattered wings blacker than night folded neatly across his back.
“Who are you?” I stood up and glanced for a way out.
“I’m Gabriel.” He jumped off the pew and landed on the floor. For a split second he was suspended in mid-air. The beauty of the moment was perfection. When his feet landed, a cloud of dust wafted around him. Where he walked, steam rose from the places his bare feet touched the wood. Scorch marks were left behind when he came towards me.
“I thought demons weren’t allowed on hallowed ground?” My voice trembled with excitement and fear. The demon in me seemed happy to see a familiar face. My horns poked against my forehead, but I willed them to stay in.
He stopped inches from me. His red eyes studied me. Sharp, clear nails scraped along the side of my cheek. His hand caressed my jaw. A burning shiver moved through me from his power. Something awoke inside of me and countered his power. Our powers met like a violent thunderstorm, and I had no control over it. Finally, he pulled away and when he did, I was left quaking from the exertion. Whatever happened must have been my angelic half waking up and battling the demonic force trying to plague me. I wondered if I would always react this brutally when my demon half raged against something celestial. I was in no hurry to find out, though.
“Whoever told you there were just demons in the Underworld was mistaken. There are different rungs of Hell, and there are different layers of Heaven. I am a true Fallen Angel, a step above Daniel; in turn, he is a step above the true demons.”